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1 in the United States District Court for the Eastern 2:16-cv-13924-MAG-RSW Doc # 1 Filed 11/04/16 Pg 1 of 41 Pg ID 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, Hon. Plaintiff, Case No. ____________ v. MICHIGAN REPUBLICAN PARTY, DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC., ROGER J. STONE, JR., and STOP THE STEAL INC., Defendants. VOTER INTIMIDATION COMPLAINT PURSUANT TO THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 AND THE KU KLUX KLAN ACT OF 1871 FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF Plaintiff Michigan Democratic Party hereby alleges as follows: INTRODUCTION 1. The campaign of Donald J. Trump (“Trump Campaign”), Trump’s close advisor Roger J. Stone, Jr., Stone’s organization Stop the Steal Inc., the Michigan Republican Party (“MRP”), and others are conspiring to threaten, intimidate, and thereby prevent minority voters in urban neighborhoods from voting in the 2016 election. The presently stated goal of the Trump Campaign, as explained by an unnamed official to Bloomberg News on October 27, 2016, is to 1 2:16-cv-13924-MAG-RSW Doc # 1 Filed 11/04/16 Pg 2 of 41 Pg ID 2 depress voter turnout—in the official’s words: “We have three major voter suppression operations under way” that target African Americans and other groups of voters. It has also become clear in recent weeks that Trump has sought to advance his campaign’s goal of “voter suppression” by using the loudest microphone in the nation to implore his supporters to engage in unlawful intimidation at Michigan polling places. Trump’s exhortations have been amplified by direct and tacit assistance from the MRP and Stone, who helped pioneer similar tactics in the 1980s before those efforts were blocked by the federal courts. Defendants have sought to organize, fund, and assist Trump’s supporters to carry out the Trump Campaign’s goals. And Trump’s supporters have responded with pledges to descend upon polling places in “certain areas” where many minority voters live in order to interfere with their efforts to exercise the franchise. 2. In the aftermath of previous voter suppression efforts in our history, Congress responded forcefully by enacting laws that unequivocally prohibit voter intimidation. In the 1870s, in response to threats of political violence and harassment against former slaves and their white supporters by the newly formed Ku Klux Klan, Congress banned private conspiracies to intimidate or threaten voters. In the 1960s, in response to the menacing of African Americans who sought their full rights at the ballot box, Congress prohibited any threats or intimidation against any and all persons engaged in the democratic process. 2 2:16-cv-13924-MAG-RSW Doc # 1 Filed 11/04/16 Pg 3 of 41 Pg ID 3 Through these actions, Congress created tools in federal law to ensure that our elections will be free from harassment and intimidation at the polls. 3. Voter intimidation is especially pernicious when it is condoned or encouraged by a candidate or political party. The Republican National Committee (“RNC”) recognized the dangers and illegality of party-sponsored efforts to intimidate voters in resolving a 1981 lawsuit alleging that it “enlisted the help of off-duty sheriffs and police officers to intimidate voters by standing at polling places in minority precincts during voting with ‘National Ballot Security Task Force’ armbands” and visible firearms, in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Democratic Nat’l Comm. v. Republican Nat’l Comm., 673 F.3d 192, 196 (3d Cir. 2012). In a 1982 Consent Decree settling that lawsuit, the RNC and the New Jersey Republican State Committee agreed, inter alia, to: a. “as a first resort, use established statutory procedures for challenging unqualified voters”; b. “comply with all applicable state and federal laws protecting the rights of duly qualified citizens to vote for the candidate(s) of their choice”; c. “refrain from giving any directions to or permitting their employees to campaign within restricted polling areas or to 3 2:16-cv-13924-MAG-RSW Doc # 1 Filed 11/04/16 Pg 4 of 41 Pg ID 4 interrogate prospective voters as to their qualifications to vote prior to their entry to a polling place”; d. “refrain from undertaking any ballot security activities in polling places or election districts where the racial or ethnic composition of such districts is a factor in the decision to conduct, or the actual conduct of, such activities there and where a purpose or significant effect of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting”; and e. “refrain from having private personnel deputized as law enforcement personnel in connection with ballot security activities.” Id. at 196-97 (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). 4. The Consent Decree has been updated, affirmed against challenge, and enforced by several courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. See id. at 220. In rejecting the RNC’s 2009 request that the Consent Decree be set aside, the District Court for the District of New Jersey held that “[v]oter intimidation presents an ongoing threat to the participation of minority individuals in the political process, and continues to pose a far greater danger to the integrity of that process than the type of voter fraud the RNC is prevented from addressing by the Decree.” Democratic Nat’l Comm. v. Republican Nat’l Comm., 4 2:16-cv-13924-MAG-RSW Doc # 1 Filed 11/04/16 Pg 5 of 41 Pg ID 5 671 F. Supp. 2d 575, 578-79 (D.N.J. 2009), aff’d, 673 F.3d 192 (3d Cir. 2012). On October 26, 2016, citing the RNC’s coordination with the Trump Campaign’s voter intimidation efforts, the Democratic National Committee moved to hold the RNC in contempt for violating the Consent Decree. See Democratic Nat’l Comm. v. Republican Nat’l Comm., No. 81-cv-3876 (JMV), Dkt. No. 95 (D.N.J. Oct. 26, 2016). 5. In this action, Plaintiff alleges Defendants’ coordinated campaign of vigilante voter intimidation also violates the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 6. There are only 5 days left until Election Day. Trump’s calls for unlawful intimidation have grown louder and louder, and the conspiracy to harass and threaten voters on Election Day already has resulted in numerous acts that threaten the voting rights of registered Michigan voters. The Michigan Democratic Party, and untold numbers of Michigan voters, will suffer irreparable harm if the right to vote is imperiled by the same forms of virulent harassment that federal law has prohibited since shortly after the Civil War. PARTIES 7. Plaintiff Michigan Democratic Party is a state party organization affiliated with the Democratic Party, headquartered in Lansing, Michigan. See 5 2:16-cv-13924-MAG-RSW Doc # 1 Filed 11/04/16 Pg 6 of 41 Pg ID 6 http://www.michigandems.com/. It is working to elect Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton for President and other “Democrats across the state.” Id. 8. Defendant Michigan Republican Party (“MRP”) is a political organization and a Michigan limited liability company affiliated with the Republican Party with its principal place of business in Lansing, Michigan. See https://www.migop.org/. The MRP is working to elect Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. See https://www.migop.org/about/our-candidates. 9. Defendant Roger J. Stone, Jr., is a resident of Florida. Stone is a Republican political operative and longtime associate of Trump’s. He is currently an operative for Trump and his campaign. Stone is a vocal proselytizer of Trump’s false voter fraud claims and his calls for vigilante action, including through Stone’s “super PAC” Stop the Steal Inc., its website stopthesteal.org, and many forms of social media. Stone has encouraged Trump supporters to wear red shirts on Election Day, in order to menace voters. Stone was a key advisor to the 1981 campaign of former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, in which a “ballot security” force wearing black armbands engaged in widespread voter intimidation in Democratic areas of the state, leading to a nationwide federal consent decree barring supposed ballot security efforts by the Republican Party. 10. Defendant Stop the Steal Inc. is a “super PAC” formed by Stone on April 6, 2016, under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. Stop the Steal Inc. 6 2:16-cv-13924-MAG-RSW Doc # 1 Filed 11/04/16 Pg 7 of 41 Pg ID 7 is devoted to promoting Stone’s conspiracy theories regarding voter fraud, and to using fears of a “rigged” election to organize and recruit poll watchers to harass and intimidate perceived Democratic voters on Election Day. Stop the Steal Inc. is headquartered at 3843 South Bristol Street, Suite 312, Santa Ana, California. 11. Defendant Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. (the “Trump Campaign”) is the campaign of Donald J. Trump for the presidency of the United States. The Trump Campaign is headquartered at 725 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York. JURISDICTION AND VENUE 12. The Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 28 U.SC. 1343 (3) and (4) because this action arises under federal law, specifically Section 2 of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3), and Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 U.S.C. § 10307(b). 13. Specific personal jurisdiction exists over the Trump Campaign, Stone, and Stop the Steal Inc., because they are transacting or transacted business in Michigan, and/or have caused or will cause tortious acts to be done, or consequences to occur, in Michigan.
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